Orange Beach or Savannah?

Orange Beach is built on its beach. Fine white quartz sand runs unbroken along the Gulf, the water turns clear and green on calm days, and the gently shelving sand suits small children. Alabama Point and the state park beaches give you more room away from the towers, though rip currents mean you should watch the warning flags.

Savannah has no beach of its own. Tybee Island, about half an hour's drive away, has wide, flat sand and warm summer water. The sea there is coloured greenish-brown by the marshes, and a visit is an outing rather than the base of your stay.

Savannah has more to eat. Its Lowcountry cooking of shrimp and grits, she-crab soup and Lowcountry boil comes with family-style dining rooms and a small group of chef-led restaurants in restored townhouses around the historic district.

Orange Beach is narrower: Gulf seafood, Royal Reds, oysters and West Indies salad at waterside fish houses on the back bays, and a lot of identical fried platters along the main road. Both towns lean on fried seafood, but only Savannah has enough range for a long weekend of different dinners.

On sights, the two are barely comparable. Savannah's 1733 grid of garden squares, lined with Federal and Greek Revival houses, is a sight in itself. The Telfair Museums, the Owens-Thomas House and Bonaventure Cemetery give a day or two of walking real substance.

Orange Beach has one small museum of Native American and fishing history and little else. The coast's history is in Pensacola's forts and Mobile's old streets, both a drive away.

Savannah's evenings are livelier and easier to string together. Because drinks in to-go cups are allowed on the street, you can drift on foot between River Street's cobbled bars, the taverns of City Market and quieter cocktail rooms, and art students keep a few dance nights going. St Patrick's Day there is one of the South's biggest street parties.

In Orange Beach, going out centres on the Flora-Bama, the old roadhouse on the state line, and a handful of bars around the marina. They are lively in summer and on spring break but quiet the rest of the year, and every move between them needs a car or a taxi.

Both sit in flat coastal country with no hills, but Orange Beach makes more of it. The paved backcountry trail runs past alligator ponds into Gulf State Park, and there is kayaking on the back bays, charter fishing and offshore reefs for divers, plus birding at Bon Secour. Together they fill a fuller outdoor week.

Savannah's Lowcountry is salt marsh and tidal creek, best seen by kayak at high tide, along the oak avenue at Wormsloe or on the trails of Skidaway Island. Biting insects and humidity weigh on outings there from June to September.

Orange Beach's best outing is Pensacola, about forty-five minutes east, with its colonial quarter, the naval aviation museum and the brick forts, followed by Mobile and bayside Fairhope. Savannah has the stronger list overall, led by Charleston two hours north, with Beaufort, Hilton Head, Fort Pulaski, and Jekyll and St Simons islands all within easy reach. From both cities, every trip needs a car.

Orange Beach is set up for children in a way Savannah is not. Condos with pools and kitchens, shallow water, dolphin boats and the Ferris wheel at the marina make long stays easy, and a water park, a zoo and a theme park are all within about half an hour. The one constant job is watching for rip currents.

Savannah suits school-age children more than toddlers. Forts, ghost walks and the birthplace of the Girl Scouts' founder appeal to that age, and Forsyth Park gives space to run. It has no large zoo, aquarium or theme park, though, and the summer heat tires small legs quickly.

Orange Beach is strung out along one coastal highway with almost no useful public transport. A car is part of every day there, summer traffic slows it to a crawl, and bikes on the trails are the only real alternative. Savannah's historic district, by contrast, is flat, compact and easy to walk, with a free shuttle and a river ferry to fill the gaps; only places such as Tybee, Wormsloe and Bonaventure need wheels.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Savannah is the better place to browse. Broughton Street has restored storefronts with boutiques, some shops sell work by the art school's students and graduates, and antique dealers and bookshops are scattered around the southern squares. Orange Beach sells beachwear, fishing gear and souvenirs along the main road, and the outlet mall in Foley, twenty minutes inland, is where visitors go for brands.

Neither is cheap, and the costs come from different places. Orange Beach is priced like an American beach resort: summer condos are expensive, but the town is much better value from late autumn to spring, and families sharing a large rental with a kitchen can cut costs further.

In Savannah, the inns in the historic district charge the rates of a popular weekend destination, highest in spring. Its squares, park and riverfront cost nothing to enjoy, though, and if you stay centrally you can manage without a car.

Savannah has more to see if you time your visit well: the spring Savannah Music Festival in historic theatres and churches, the restored Lucas and Trustees theatres, a local philharmonic and an autumn jazz festival in Forsyth Park. Orange Beach offers touring country and rock acts at the marina amphitheatre, bar bands in season and the November songwriters' festival on the state line, with no theatre or classical music.

Pace, not pampering, sets these two apart, since each has only a handful of resort, hotel and day spas, and Savannah's pace is the steadier. Orange Beach's calm is real but seasonal: long empty mornings and sunsets over the back bays from autumn to spring, giving way to noise on summer weekends and during spring break.

In Savannah, a bench under the oaks in a quiet square or the porch of an old inn makes doing very little easy. It is at its most restful midweek in spring or autumn, away from River Street's weekend crowds.